Optical interconnections are widely used to provide reliable interconnections between electronic components. Of particular importance, surface-normal optical interconnections have been shown to provide high-performance optical interconnects directly to the densest level of integration available with electronics, namely complementary, metal-oxide-semiconductor, very-large-scale integrated circuitry (CMOS VLSI).
Accordingly, the prior art has previously developed surface-normal optoelectronic-VLSI circuits based upon flip-chip attachment of GaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) light-detectors and light-modulators onto a pre-fabricated silicon CMOS integrated circuit. (See, e.g., Goossen, et al., "GaAs MQW modulators integrated with silicon CMOS," IEEE Photonics Technology Letter, Vol. 7, No. 4, p. 360-62, 1995; Krishnamoorthy et al., "3-D integration of MQW modulators over active sub-micron CMOS circuits: 375 Mb/s transimpedance receiver-transmitter circuit," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 1288-1290, November 1995).
Optoelectronic-VLSI circuits such as those shown in the prior art typically incorporate arrays of receiver and transmitter circuits. For a number of reasons, it may be advantageous to replace the modulator-based transmitters described in the prior art with Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). Inasmuch as the VCSEL depends upon an injection of current into a lasing cavity, a transmitter circuit for the VCSEL must modulate the injected current. Consequently, a continuing need exists in the art for high-performance, power-efficient circuits for driving the VCSELs.